AGE DIFFERENCES AMONG WITHIN-PERSON INDICATORS OF STRESS AND DEPRESSION

Abstract Although older adults tend to regulate their emotions and resist stress better than midlife or younger adults (Charles & Carstensen, 2007), research suggests that when older adults do negatively react to stress they may have more difficulty recovering (Charles, 2010). Research reveals that various indicators of stress relate to greater depression – even suggesting that stress causes the depression (van Praag, 2004). Individual perceived stress (PS) as well as perceived stress reactivity (PSR) influence how stress impacts well-being (Folkman et al., 1986). Thus, we examined age differences in the within-person relationships among PS, PSR, and depression, and potential causal determinants of depression with a longitudinal mediation model. We used data from 572 participants in the Notre Dame Study of Health & Well-being (M(age) = 59.77; sd(age) = 14.22) who completed two to four waves of yearly assessments. Sequentially built multilevel models, in which year was nested within person, illustrated that only midlife adults experience an exacerbated effect of within-person fluctuations in PSR on the relationship between within-person PS and depressive levels (gamma41 = -0.004, p < .01). The longitudinal mediation model revealed that PSR at Time 2 mediated the relationship between PS at Time 1 and Depression at Time 3. Findings suggest that older adults illustrate successful emotion regulation strategies at the yearly level --resisting the negative ramifications of years of greater PS and PSR, whereas midlife adults who experience years of greater PSR would particularly benefit from stress management interventions and monitoring of depressive levels.


THE MODERATING ROLE OF PURPOSE IN LIFE IN THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DISCRIMINATION AND COGNITION
Heather Farmer, and Alexis Ambroise, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware, United States Discrimination is a source of chronic stress disproportionately experienced by Black adults that has been associated with worse cognitive outcomes in older adults.Few studies have explored modifiable resilience resources that may protect people from the possible negative impacts of discrimination on cognition.Sense of purpose refers to an individual's perception of future-oriented goals and direction in life, and is a key resource associated with better cognition.However, no studies have explored whether greater purpose may buffer older adults against the negative impacts of discrimination on cognition or whether there are race differences in the stress-buffering impact of purpose on cognition.We use data from 9,775 Non-Hispanic White and 1,687 Black adults in the 2006 to 2016 waves of the Health and Retirement Study (HRS) to explore whether purpose in life moderates the association between everyday discrimination and cognitive functioning and whether this relationship varies by race.Discrimination was measured using the Everyday Discrimination Scale, which assesses how frequently an individual reports unfair and differential treatment (range, 0-5, where higher scores indicate more frequent discrimination).Multilevel linear regression models revealed that frequent discrimination was associated with worse cognition (b=-0.34,p<.001), controlling for age, gender, race/ethnicity, region, and urbanicity.There was a significant discrimination x purpose interaction (b=0.16,p<.001), suggesting that purpose may buffer the discrimination-cognition association.However, there was a non-significant discrimination x purpose x race interaction.This research suggests a strong sense of purpose can protect people from experiencing worse cognition when faced with frequent discrimination.Although older adults tend to regulate their emotions and resist stress better than midlife or younger adults (Charles & Carstensen, 2007), research suggests that when older adults do negatively react to stress they may have more difficulty recovering (Charles, 2010).Research reveals that various indicators of stress relate to greater depression -even suggesting that stress causes the depression (van Praag, 2004).Individual perceived stress (PS) as well as perceived stress reactivity (PSR) influence how stress impacts well-being (Folkman et al., 1986).Thus, we examined age differences in the within-person relationships among PS, PSR, and depression, and potential causal determinants of depression with a longitudinal mediation model.We used data from 572 participants in the Notre Dame Study of Health & Well-being (M(age) = 59.77; sd(age) = 14.22) who completed two to four waves of yearly assessments.Sequentially built multilevel models, in which year was nested within person, illustrated that only midlife adults experience an exacerbated effect of within-person fluctuations in PSR on the relationship between within-person PS and depressive levels (gamma41 = -0.004,p < .01).The longitudinal mediation model revealed that PSR at Time 2 mediated the relationship between PS at Time 1 and Depression at Time 3. Findings suggest that older adults illustrate successful emotion regulation strategies at the yearly level --resisting the negative ramifications of years of greater PS and PSR, whereas midlife adults who experience years of greater PSR would particularly benefit from stress management interventions and monitoring of depressive levels.

CARE-RESISTANT BEHAVIOR TRAJECTORIES OF PERSONS WITH DEMENTIA IN NURSING HOMES AND DISTAL OUTCOMES IN ORAL HEALTH
Chunhong Xiao, Frank Puga, Carolyn Pickering, Cindy Cain, Maria Geisinger, and Rita Jablonski, 1.The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Northport, Alabama, United States Persons with dementia (PWD) who exhibit careresistant behaviors (CRB) are likely to resist mouthcare and have poor oral health.This study aimed to examine predictors and describe the characteristics of CRB trajectories and their distal outcome in oral health among PWD in nursing homes (NH).Group-based trajectory modeling was used to analyze dynamic changes in CRB intensity over 21 days with two time-points (morning and afternoon) among 75 PWD.Sub-group analysis demonstrated the characteristics of each trajectory group membership.Distal-outcome models explored the association between oral health variation and mouthcare completion to CRB trajectories.The most influential predictors included CRB intensity at baseline, duration of mouthcare, and the number of antipsychotics prescribed.Three distinctive CRB trajectories were identified for both morning and afternoon in the context of mouthcare.Oral health status and the mouthcare completion rates differed by CRB trajectory groups, and worse oral health status was associated with higher level of CRB intensity trajectories.The High-start CRB groups had the worst oral health status and lowest mouthcare completion in both model estimation and pre-post test.Oral health showed improvement across all three trajectory groups.A tailored individuallevel strategy based on a daily pattern of CRB intensity may provide the key to developing interventions that find the "sweet spot" between providing optimal mouthcare while minimizing CRB.Results imply that balancing CRB and mouthcare by providing morning-only mouthcare to those with high CRBs may allocate resources to PLWD most in need of mouthcare.Antipsychotics have not shown usefulness in managing CRB.

PHYSICAL ACTIVITY AND DEMENTIA PREVENTION: THE ROLE OF HEALTH COGNITIONS AMONG 50+ HEALTHY INDIVIDUALS IN ISRAEL Offer Edelstein, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Beer-Sheva, HaDarom, Israel
Background: Although dementia cannot be cured, it can be prevented by adopting various health behaviors, including regular physical activity.The current study sought to i) estimate the participation of Israel-born healthy individuals aged 50 years or older in regular physical activity; ii) assess the associations linking Health Belief Model variables (Rosenstock, 1966(Rosenstock, , 1974) ) and engagement in regular physical activity.Method: This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2021-2022, using online convenience sampling.The study included 328 Israel-born participants aged 50 years or older.Physical activity was assessed by asking whether participants regularly engaged in physical activity (type of activities/times per week/minutes).Cognitive perceptions were assessed using the Motivation to Change Lifestyle and Health Behaviors for Dementia Risk Reduction questionnaire (Kim et al., 2014).

Results:
The average weekly minutes of physical activity was 165.62 (S.D. 176.17), whereas only 43.6% performed 150 minutes of physical activity weekly.A multivariate linear regression indicated that among all of the model's variables, perceived severity (β=-.204,p<.001), cues to action (β=.134, p<.001), feminine gender (β=-.155,p<.01), and low income (β=-.113,p<.05)emerged as significant predictors of weekly minutes of physical activity.The model explained 14.2% of the variance in the performance of weekly minutes of physical activity [F(7,320)=12.22,p<.001].Conclusions: The current research underlines the role of health cognitions (perceived severity, barriers, and cues for action) regarding engagement in physical activity.The results of the current study might serve as a basis for intervention programs among various target populations.
Abstract citation ID: igad104.0081The impending loss of "self" is a common concern of persons diagnosed with dementia.However, in contrast to the traditional biomedical model, there is qualitative and quantitative evidence that self-identity persists across stages of the disease.An understanding of the components of self-identity of persons living with early-stage dementia (PLWED) can inform treatment approaches and communication from care partners and providers.Consequently, the aim of the present study is to examine what PLWED identify as the facets of their self-concept.Participants were a purposive sample of 20 community-dwelling PLWED who attended a voluntary health program aimed at facilitating aging-in-place.Focus groups were conducted and recorded on-site at the health program.The interviews were transcribed verbatim from the audio recordings and were analyzed through a conventional content analysis approach.Content analysis of the